WorldCon and DragonCon Part 3

This next costume was worn at Renovation's Masquerade where I judge clerked and Sunday morning at DragonCon. It's also one of my current favorites :D

Dr. Barlow from Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan/Behemoth:



This costume was a lot of fun to figure out. Dr. Barlow is a scientist who creates genetic chimera animals, so I went with a lot of synthetic looking animal prints and funky colored fake furs. I also tried to have a steampunky color palate because the books are very steampunk in theme. The resulting mix is a very comfortable costume that I will probably be wearing quite a bit!



Next, here's part 3 of the Dyeing panel:





I'm going to start working on the tutorial videos I mention in part 5 very soon. I'm going to start with stove-top dying because I want to do that for one of my niece's pageant dresses. She's singing "You are my Sunshine" as her talent entry, so I'm making a dress with 6 tiers of ruffles that are dyed shades from yellow to dark orangey-red. Her mock-up fit perfectly, and she's very excited about her new dress!

From September 13, 2011

From September 13, 2011

From September 13, 2011

I also got her brothers' requests for Halloween costumes yesterday, and I'm super-excited about one of them, so more on that soon I hope!

WorldCon and DragonCon Part 2

My next costume was worn at both WorldCon and DragonCon. It's Zola from Girl Genius:



I've been working on this costume for a very long time--over two years! It was worth it, though. I made Phil Foglio do a double-take when I walked up to his booth, and I got a costume award from Kaja. They are such nice people, I was very glad to meet them and pick up the entire series in paper form (and they autographed all of them, what troopers!).

The boots are scrunched down in my picture, they're going on seven years old and stretch pleather apparently just doesn't hold up well! At WorldCon it started flaking and binding, so I really need to get a new pair, probably with a lower heel. I also need to add on the belt loops again, and I realized after wearing it for an hour that when I took in the sides of the pants I sewed the pockets shut accidentally, so I'm going to correct that soon :D



I've also got another video update! Here's part 2 of the Dyeing Panel:

"Steampunk Your Props" Resources

This is a list of resources mentioned at the "Steampunk Your Props" panel at Worldcon on Thursday August 18.

Vintagejewelrysupplies.com - brass findings
1000 Steampunk Creations - book
Steampunk Emporium - book and site
Steamfashion on LiveJournal
Brass Goggles forum
E6000 - wonderful glue
thistothat.com - website for glue info
GS Hypo Cement - glue
Fire Mountain Gems - beads and findings, tools and glues, etc
Restoration Hardware - furniture brass findings
Crafter's Goop - glue
Tim Holtz - brand name for scrapbook gears/keyholes
model railroad stores - good resources
Electrique Boutique - cheap shoes
Fluevogs - expensive shoes
Gentleman's Emporium - great site for all things steamy